From: Liz
Already little Bella, aged eight months, is learning how to be a girl. For starters, notice the pink and green outfit? Also,with her array of "cute" little stuffed animals all gathered on the pastel blanket and the soft, gentle beach ball, those around her have bestowed the necessary "girlie" items which will ensure she knows her gender/role in life. The only reason the bow in her hair is absent, is because she "unfortunately" doesn't have an adequate amount of hair that will allow her to wear one. Something her parents have expressed serious concerns over.
5 comments:
This photo is very significant to gender socialization already at the age of eight months this little baby girl is put in to the color pink, which in our society distinguish the difference between little girls and boys. The baby girl is also sitting on a soft pink blanket which her parent may use to that she won’t hurt her delicate legs. I also notice the soft plushy toys surrounding her, this may be used for a safety reason so that she wont get hurt playing. Also most of her toys are a soft pastel color which may show the delicateness of the young baby girl. She is also sitting in a leg folding position which society would see as a females way of sitting. I also noticed the two mirrors that the baby have in the room which may symbolize that girls like to look at there appearance more than boys do.
While I can see how the eight month old girl's outfit and (maybe) the blanket would indicate parental pressure to fill a certain gender role, it seems as if the toys and the rest of the photo don't quite seem to back the assertion so strongly. The yellow bird in the background, near the back right corner of the blanket, I have seen in a baby boy's room before. The blocks don't seem partial to one gender or another, and in fact are mostly colors people would use to describe male-oriented toys. The penguin with the rosy cheeks on the left side of the photograph doesn't appear to encourage any kind of standard female reactions. Likewise with the stuffed giraffe, bear and lion (I have versions of the last two in my own closet). The parent's wish to be able to put a bow in her hair notwithstanding, it just doesn't seem like this picture really supports the claim that the girl is being gendered to fill the stereotypical 'female role' from an early age. It seems as if the parents just happened to get her a stereotypical baby girl outfit and a lot of baby toys that, while admittedly a bit on the cutesy side, hardly qualify as “typical 'girlie' items.”
This picture is a true reflection of how the society modes a child into a predetermined gender irrespective of the innate abilities of whatever gender the child was born with. With specific colours and gendered toys, the child is trained to be what the society wants it to be, not what he/she ought to be. In the case of this girl, she is being molded into the feminine gender right from the cradle. This automatically kills whatever is in her to the contrary.
This photo ender strongly gender socialization at its earliest. It is amazing that even as babies we are being shown and guided into a specific gender role. The colors and toys in this in this photo make the strong statement that this child is a girl and could not be mistaken for a boy. If the child were a boy we can be sure that we would find darker more masculine colors and toys around him. The toys may include some cars and action figures, and the clothes would be darker shaded of blue, green and even red. I like how the blanket the girl is sitting on is not only in more feminine colors to clearly label that it is a blanket for a girl, but how it appears to be so soft. To me that trait is something else that is feminine. Even the toy lion and the other animals, and the blocks are soft. If this were a boy his toys may not look so delicate. The toys themselves could be male or female but the fact that they look more delicate just make them seem more “girly”. The little girl is also dressed very much according to her gender. I like how you not only put her in pink, which is a color very much known for being feminine, but you used a typically masculine color of green and showed how that can look feminine simply by its lighter shade. In this picture the girl also appears to be passive like in many other photos we have seen. She is shown sitting quietly on her own and appearing content. A photo of a boy may have shown him in a more active position such as playing with a toy. This photo does a great job of showing how from an early age we are conditioned to fit a specific gender role. In this case with a girl, we can see from an early age that based on the toys, clothes and even the blanket around us we are supposed to be soft, delicate, and in general non-threatening.
I think this does demonstrate a strong social engendering of the girl by her parents. Though the animals could be gender neutral, that they are so fluffy and pastel shows how girls are trained to gravitate twoards soft, pretty, cute things that they may nurture. The way little girls and boys play with stuffed animals s quite different (as briefly described in Delight's photograph). It is interesting that the parents are distressed over their inability to completely :mark" her gender with a bow, and thus compensate by dressing her in very feminine clothes.
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